My paternal grandmother had a full set of dentures. What I remember most about her teeth were the two prominent gold ones you saw every time she smiled. As curious children are prone to do, one day I asked her why she had gold teeth. Without hesitation she replied, “When you have a tooth pulled, if you never touch where the tooth was with your tongue, a gold tooth will grow back in its place.”
I remembered her advice and, as I began to lose my baby teeth, I vainly tried to keep from touching the empty space with my tongue. Time and again, I would forget and let me tongue touch the opening. And sure enough, every time that the new tooth appeared it was white instead of gold! She was right, if only I had been able to resist touching my gum, I could have had a gold tooth as well.
I never shared this knowledge with anyone, including my parents. It was something that only my grandmother and I knew, our secret to keep.
I decided that the solution for a troublesome tooth was to have it extracted and be done with it. I did just that and, on the way home from the dentist, I remembered what my grandmother told me over seventy years ago about her gold teeth. I thought to myself, maybe she was right all along. I’ll take her advice and see if I can still have a gold tooth.
That
lasted maybe another mile or two. Ooops,
not again!
